Report: UK to stop using 'War on Terror' phrase

Development Secretary Hilary Benn will risk the wrath of Tony Blair's closest international ally by warning that US rhetoric has given terrorists a "shared identity".

Mr Benn is to say openly that President George Bush's phrase "War on Terror" strengthens small disaffected groups with widely differing aims by making them feel part of something "bigger".

He will confirm that British ministers and civil servants have decided to stop using the term.

Speaking in New York [at the Center for International Cooperation], Mr Benn will also urge leaders such as President Bush to find common ground with potential enemies rather than relying on "hard" military power.

The intervention is unlikely to go down well in the White House, which coined the phrase shortly after the September 11 attacks. It previously stood by the term in December, when it was reported that the Foreign Office wanted it dropped.